William palmer



NfEYERS, PHOTD-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D, C4

n T all whom t may concern lUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.VV i' WILLIAMPALMER, OF NEW YORK, N.Y. l

WATER-GAGE FOR STEAM-BOILERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 10,4817 dated January 31, 1854.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM PALMER, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Water-Gages forSteam-Boilers, which I have designated a Compensating Tater-Gage, and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full description of the same.

The nature of my invention consists in making a double tubular case orbox, which is attached to the head of the boiler by an upper and lowerconnecting pipe, so that the upper pipe communicates with the boilerabove the range of the water line, and the lower pipe with the boilerbelow the range, so as to admit the water as well, as the steam into thecase, where consequently the water will rise and fall with the water inthe boiler. Inside of this case, at the head, and

about midway between the two tubes I arrange a lever on a pivot, to oneend of which I attach a rod having on the lower end of it a iioat, torest upon the water in one of the tubes, and rise and fall with it. Tothe opposite end of the lever is also attached a rod having on its lowerend a compensating plate to sink into the water in the tube, in which itworks, so as to compensate the sudden rise and fall of the iioat in theopposite tube in consequence of the ebullition of the water or of therolling of the vessel, when applied to sea going Steamers. When thisfloat sinks below a certainV mark, the lever opens a valve in the headof the case and the escaping steam causes a little paddle wheel, outsideand in front of the case, to revolve, which by means of a cam and ahammer rings the bell on top of the case.

"When the vwater and consequently the float rises too high, the leveropens another valve, and the escaping steam sets the same paddle wheelin motion and rings the same bell, but this time the steam escapes in adifferent direction from the paddle wheel, and indicates so to theengineer that the water is too high.

The great advantage of this apparatus is, that its external applicationto the boiler renders it accessible to examination for repairs, if outof order, a matter of great importance where gagers are used. But todescribe my invention more particularly I will refer to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this schedule, the same letters of referencewherever theyoccur referring to the same parts.

Figure I is a front elevation'of the gage. Fig. II is a cut section of.the gage through line m', Fig. III is a cut sect-ion of the Vgagethrough line Y Y.

Letter A is the case ofthe gage, which is composed of two halves, havinga(A flange around its. edges, so as to admit of being bolted together,to make the case steam tight.

The case consists of two hollow tubes B, B2, the bores of which unite atthe top, where a lever C is p-laced on a prop D within the case. Thislever islong enough to 'have its ends vertical over the hollow tubes. To

one end of this lever is attached a rod E having a floatv F on its lowerend, and on the opposite end of the lever is another rod G, having onits lower end a compensating plateyI-I. The use of the float vis toreston the water, which flows into the tubes of the case through theconnecting pipes I'and J,

and rise andvfall with it, but when itrises too high, it opens, by meansof lever C the valve, M which is connected with the lever C by rod M',and when the water falls too low, it opens by means of the same lever Cthe valve N, connected with the lever C by the rod N. In both casessteam escapes through the valves, passes through the channels O or P inoblique directions into a cir,

cuit or case Q and causes the paddle wheel R to revolve. posed of twoflanges, which form a groove This paddle wheel is com# between them,toreceive 6 or more paddles S; these paddles may set either square orobliquely, as shown in Fig. I in dotted lines, and the bottom ofthegroove may be worked straight between each pair of the paddles,

as shown plainly in the same figure in dot-ted Y v lines, so as tosecure the most favorable action of the steam against the paddles. Thiswheel turns freely on-pin T, placed in the center of the case Q, whichfits all around the wheel, so as to prevent .the escape ofr steam outofthe wheel R, without touching' case Q through channel O in consequenceofthe water in the boiler being too high, it turns the paddle wheel R inthe direction of the arrow, and the steam remains within the paddles Suntil they reach the opening U,A where it will exhaust. When steamenters into the case Q through channel P in consequence of the watersbeing too low, it

will also put the wheel R in motion, butl the steam will exhaust throughopening U. Consequently the direction, in which the steam exhausts, willindicate to the engineer, whether the water in the boiler is too high ortoo low.

The hub of wheel R is provided with a cam R, which, when in motion,raises the lever V, each revolution, and causes the little hammer V tostrike the bell W.

The use of the compensating plate H is, to prevent the sudden act-ion ofthe float in consequence of the ebullitions of the water in the boiler,or in consequence of the rolling of a boiler in a seagoing vessel. Thisis done by sinking the plate H in the water in tube B', and as it nearlylits the orifice of the cylinder or tube B', there will always be aweight of water on it, requiringtime to escape and consequently actingas a compensator to the tendency of the lioat, to follow the vibrationsof the water, which would without the compensator cause a constantringing of the bell. Should one compensat-V ing plate not be sutlicient,two or more may be used as the Weight of the float may require.

Letter X is intended to represent the 1 boiler head, to which theconnecting pipes Y are attached. These connecting pipes have plugs Y Yin them, so that any accident require the gage being removed, it can bedone, without any trouble.

`Letter'Z is a blow olif pipe communicating with the connecting pipe ofthe gage, so as to blow oli' the water in the gage at any time.

Having now described my invention I will proceed to state what I claim,and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States.

What I claim isl. The use of the double tubular case in combination withthe lever, having a float at one end, working in one of the tubes, and acompensating plate or equivalentI device, at the other, working in theo-pposite tube for the purpose substantially as set forth.

2. I also claim the use of the lever having a float at one end of it anda compensating plate at the other, whether working in a double tubularcase or otherwise, in c ombination with an upper and lower rod valve,for operating a bell by means of the steam escaping through t-hesevalves, whether using the paddle wheel, or any equivalent device forthat purpose, to indicate the minimum or maximum of the water in theboiler, substantially as set forth.

Y WILLIAM PALMER. Witnesses:

"` A. H. I-IAAK,

JAMES M. f PARKER.

